FOR PRESS: PM No. 109/ 1970
DEATH CF GENERAL DE GAULLE
Comment by the Prime Minister, Mr. John Gorton
President de Gaulle was one of the outstanding figures of
contemporary history.
When his country was overrun he refused to surrender and
continued the fight from abroad. At first he was almost alone, but
Frenchmen rallied to him and wearing the Cross of Lorraine he made
tt. Free French Forces a factor in the fight against Nazism.
After the War he played a leading role in France and in
post-war Europe, always dominated by almost mystical devotion to
France. His physical and moral courage, his devotion to an ideal,
his embodiment at times of the spirit of a nation marked him as a
great man. We extend our sympathy to France at his death. and we
will all feel a little the poorer.
CANBERRA 11 November 1970
PM 109/1970 - DEATH OF GENERAL DE GAULLE
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